Now I live in Washington state and we have a couple of months of cool weather in the spring. I’m totally growing peas!
Love Those Cattle Panels
My sweetie and I have been working with cattle panels to build pen areas for the bunnies. As I’ve worked with them, it was easy to see other possible uses. They are so sturdy. With a snip here and there and a bit of wire, you could construct any number of structures.
So when it came to building a pea trellis, my first thought was … get a cattle panel!
Cut Them to Size
They come in 4’x16′ panels (actually they are 4’2″ tall which gives you a bit of wiggle room to play). I didn’t want my trellis to be too tall (I have to be able to reach the peas) so my plan was to cut the cattle panel into four 4′ sections with a bolt cutter (though you could use a grinder). Those four panels would make two A-frame trellises (one for me and one for my DIL).
Plan A
As I was looking at the panel, however, I felt that the A-frames would be too short (peas do grow up and up). So I cut them slightly larger by cutting the cattle panel into three pieces instead of four. (I had a bit of leftover cattle panel from another project that made up the fourth panel I would need to make 2 A-frames.)
Plan B
These panels are around 5′ tall and work well in our garden space.
The finished trellis with the two panels as an A-frame.
Theoretically, you could make the trellises whatever height you like. Just cut them so you have the poke-y bits on the bottom. They are positioned down so you can push them into the soil to help hold your trellis in place.
The poke-y bits hold everything in place.
Wire Them at the Top
I’m a use-what’s-on-hand kind of gal, so we used leftover wire we had on hand to tie the two pieces together at the top (in three places). You could use hog rings or really strong twine. (What do you have on hand that is sturdy enough to hold them together?)
Attach at the top.
And that’s it. Set them out in your garden for peas (or any climbing plant like cucumbers or beans). They’re easy to make and position in the garden.
When you’re clearing the area in the fall, just pull the trellises out of the ground and store them over the winter. In the spring, bring them back out and push the poke-y bits in the soil and you are good to go.
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CONCRETE BLOCK RAISED BEDS
A sturdy durable choice for your garden.
Image credits
pea tendrils © gartengoere / Pixabay
cattle panel diagrams © Lori / Dandelion Hill Homestead
cattle panel trellis in garden © Lori / Dandelion Hill Homestead
interest image – pea tendrils © gartengoere / Pixabay
